”I am fastidious when it comes to making sure that we are sourcing the right – and best – materials,” says McCaig.

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While manufacturing at this handcrafted level provides local employment, Australia’s manufacturing industries – and the jobs that come with it – have substantially declined over the last twenty years. According to the ABS Labour Force Survey, employment in the sector is down 118,500 in the last two decades; minus 11.5 per cent.

That’s not to say the jobs aren’t there. The Australian arm of multinational business Kimberly-Clark employs around 400 employees (including contractors) at its Millicent Mill in South Australia, with another 220 employed in its ANZ business.

Looking forward, the manufacturer has both sustainability and diversity firmly in mind.

“In 2023, we reduced our emissions by 30.5 per cent against our 2015 baseline, whilst continuing to explore alternative, renewable energy sources at our Millicent Mill. We’ve also recently achieved 100 per cent waste diversion at the Mill, which is a huge milestone for our business,” says Millicent Mill manager Adam Carpenter.

As a sector, only 29 per cent of manufacturing workers are female, but Carpenter says that they’ve managed to shift the dial on Kimberly-Clark’s South Australian site.

“Back in 2019, we had hired zero women into our production team. To address this, we made a simple but really effective change to our job advertisements. We removed the forklift prerequisite and placed more focus on behaviours rather than just technical skills,” he says.

A local media campaign and a formal referral program for employees also helped spread the word.

“As a result, we’ve seen close to 40 per cent new female recruits in our production team year-on-year, ranging from young graduates to working mums,” says Carpenter.

Unsurprisingly, the organisation is positive about the Australian government’s investment in manufacturing, but says it needs to keep a close eye on the pipeline of workers supporting a greener future.

“We believe that a key part of the energy transition is the electrification of the process, [so] it is crucial that the government considers training and capacity building for electrical trades and electrical/automation engineering,” Carpenter says.

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